Black People: Please Stop Whining about the Oscars

If the Oscar’s failed to recognize you, FAIL to recognize it. It’s that simple. If being recognize for your work and being publicly awarded is so important to Black actors, then, create your own ceremony. Don’t wait to be excluded…excuse yourself. But for goodness sake – stop whining!

People of Hollywood:

·       Jada Pinkett Smith – “I won’t be attending the Academy Awards and I won’t be watching”

·       Chris Rock – “The White BET Awards”

·       Spike Lee – “lily-white” Oscars

·       Whoopi Goldberg – “We have this conversation every year and it pisses me off”

·       Gina Rodriguez – “It’s not as diverse as reflected in today’s society” (the Academy board)

If black actors are truly disgusted by the so-called all white Oscar’s, do something about it – “don’t just talk about it, be about it”.  Do something! Create your own (call it the Satchel Paige) . Going on social media outlets to voice discrimination is a far cry from physical action.  The woe is me mentality needs to stop – not now, right now. And besides, going on twitter to "boycott" is just lame.

When black actors win…

To be fair, the Academy has handed out Oscar’s to black actors and actresses.  Let’s review some of the roles in which blacks have won:

·       Lupita Nyong’o – slave

·       Hattie McDaniel – slave

·       Mo’Nique – abusive, unemployed mother

·       Octavia Spencer – maid – “the help”

·       Denzel Washington – crooked Cop

·       Halle Berry – struggling, poor single mom – stereotypical portrayal of Black women

·       Sidney Poitier – traveling handyman

·       Forest Whitaker – brutal Ugandan dictator

·       Cuba Gooding, Jr. – hammy athlete

·       Jamie Fox – drug addicted musician

·       Morgan Freeman – the driver

It seems to me that perhaps more important than fighting for recognition, is the fight for diverse roles. Unless of course, black actors are more concerned with a nomination than the content of the characters they’re offered. Diversity is much more than merely the color of one’s skin (so I like to believe). Dear black actors: If an Oscar is more important than variation, then continue to play stereotypical, drug addicted, dysfunctional degenerates and low wage earner’s – you’ll get the nomination you crave.

Solution?

Think Baseball:

•     Informal discrimination and legalized segregation kept African Americans out of organized white baseball from the end of the 19^th century through the mid 1940s.

•     In response, blacks formed their own teams and leagues. Negro League Baseball grew from humble beginnings in the 1920s and 30s into a profitable business by the early 1940s.

It wasn’t so long ago when black people had to form their own (_________). This method worked in the past and will certainly work in the present. Exceedingly capable black baseball players were purposely and systematically denied entry into major league baseball, so they formed their own league, the result of which is abundantly apparent when one turns on the tube to watch a game – black players on every team. 

Question for us ALL

People of Color – Even though black actors are not justly represented by the Academy – can you still celebrate the work of white actors that deserve recognition?

White people– Would you be able to appreciate and support an Awards ceremony that highlights the achievements of people of color with the same vigor and respect given to the Oscar’s?